In Silver City, town officials refuse to release technical specifics even as they scurry around rodent-like, installing a new technology that is capable of spying on our water usage as well as inflicting health damages ranging from learning disabilities to cancer. More accurately, not Silver City town officials but a company aptly named RTS (RaTS?), working out of plain white vehicles, are unobtrusively installing new meters in our midst.

What are these harmful, microwave-emitting devices ¹ that are being planted among us?Town Manager Alex Brown has not revealed technical details of the new “smart” water meters. He has been willing only to mention the model name (Spectrum 30D) of the microwave-emitting devices.

A bit of sleuthing shows that these meters are very problematic indeed. These meters emit radiation in the 902-to-928 megahertz frequency range, pulsing like a strobe around the clock 24/7, emitting harmful radiation every 5 seconds, making a total of 17,280 times per day, 365 days a year. The output power is 30,000 microwatts.

What makes these meters particularly worrisome from the public health perspective are the negative health effects associated with the radiation they emit. The meters, which have never been tested for health effects, broadcast radio/microwave frequencies that have been shown to produce deleterious effects in living organisms and tissues even at extremely low powers.²

What is even more worrisome, the “spread spectrum” technology utilized by these meters creates pulsed, jagged signals that some believe can cause neurological damage ranging from cognitive impairment to autism to Parkinson’s disease.³

These pulsed signals are capable of altering basic life processes in the human organism (and in all living creatures 4), resulting in health damages on three tiers. Some hypersensitive individuals will manifest symptoms immediately—such as sleep disturbances, depression, and cognitive impairment—but everyone will be subject to ongoing disturbances that may, for a time, remain unnoticed.

On a second tier, persons with existing cancers and other conditions are especially vulnerable and should not be exposed to this radiation as it can interfere with chemotherapy and other ongoing treatments. On a third tier, long-term exposure to this radiation is thought to promote the incidence of new cancers and diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in the affected population.5

Given the serious dangers involved, why have Town of Silver City officials recklessly charged ahead with these health-endangering meters? Especially disturbing was the callous attitude displayed by Mayor Morones, Town Manager Alex Brown, and Town Councilors Aiman-Smith, Bettison, Cano, and Ray, who arrogantly dismissed the testimony of dozens of persons who came forward to say they were made sick by this radiation.

These town officials were not open to reasonable discussion. Why did they willfully ignore the massive scientific evidence pointing to the harmful effects of the microwave frequencies deployed by the new “smart” water meters?

Town officials claimed to have researched the health effects, but they in fact relied exclusively on industry-funded studies that covered up the negative health effects. One councilwoman cited the Interphone Study to support her claim of “safe,” but this study has been thoroughly discredited since at least 2010. 6

Why are these radiation-spewing meters being imposed on us? They are unwanted, they are unnecessary, and they are being imposed undemocratically. Over 1,000 citizens put their signatures on petitions opposing the meters, but those 1,000 people were ignored.

Was there any rational basis for changing to the new meters in the first place? No. The new radiation-emitting meters will not help to save water. As Alex Brown has admitted, water loss through leakage in the system was successfully minimized well before any decision was made to go ahead with “smart” meters.

To add to the absurdity, we are not facing a water crisis. Water consumption has been declining in Silver City since the year 2000, dropping some 17% between 2000 and 2012. 7 Again, why are Town of Silver City officials planting these expensive health bombs in our midst ($4 million for an estimated 5,000 meters)?

The only remaining motive is MONEY. Town Manager Alex Brown has stated that increased revenues from the new meters will pay the $4 million price tag. He is convinced that the new radiation-emitting digital meters will measure more water and thus generate more revenue.

But why should we rate payers shoulder a $4 million burden for meters that endanger our health and are unnecessary? No less water will actually be used, but we will be paying more. The Town of Silver City is not a for-profit corporation for the purpose of maximizing earnings. We, the citizens who live here, ARE Silver City. It’s our city, and it’s our water. We should get to decide.

“Undemocratic” is the word to close with. Alex Brown, City Manager, proclaimed early on that opt-outs were not possible and that the meters were a “done thing.” He, along with the rest of Silver City officials, seems to have adopted a “we-know-better-than-you” attitude that tells us, from the top down, “Shut up and take it!” I, for one, reject this attitude and will continue to stand up for our fundamental right to genuinely participate in making decisions that will determine our future health and happiness.

Phil Alethes, PhD

1 In this article I use the term “microwave” to refer to the electromagnetic frequencies emitted by “smart” water meters. Sometimes these same frequencies are referred to as “radio” frequencies. This is because microwaves are a subset of radio waves, the microwave frequencies ranging from 300 MHz to 3 GHz, and the frequencies in the radio spectrum ranging from Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF) at 3–30 Hz to Tremendously High Frequencies (THF) at 300–3000 GHz.

2 For an overview of literature on the biological actions induced by the weak and hyperweak physico-chemical factors associated with low energy electromagnetic fields, see Vladimir N. Binhi, Magnetobiology: Underlying Physical Problems, 2002, 3. Binhi also speaks of the alarming buildup of electromagnetic pollution in our environment.

3 For neurological effects of pulsed microwaves see Baoming Wang and Henry Lai, “Acute Exposure to Pulsed 2450–MHz Microwaves Affects Water-Maze Performance of Rats,” Bioelectromagnetics 21:52–65 (2000); Henry Lai and Narendra P. Singh, “Melatonin and a spin-trap compound block radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation-induced DNA strand breaks in rat brain cells,” Bioelectromagnetics 18:446–454 (1997). In a 1997 paper ,“Neurological Effects of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation Relating to Wireless Communication Technology,” Henry Lai wrote: “Pulsed RFR seemed to be more potent than continuous-wave RFR,” and “Interestingly, pulsed (400 pps) RFR produced more pronounced effects in the nervous system … than continuous-wave radiation of the same power density.” For an up-to-date overview of the literature on neurological effects, see Henry Lai, “Neurological Effects of Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Fields” (a paper prepared for the BioIniative Working Group, March 2014).

5 On DNA as a fractal antenna that picks up a wide range of EM frequencies, see https://vimeo.com/17266941. Possible links to cancer, Alzheimer’s, leukemia, and autism are mentioned at 18:25–19:08.

6 On the Interphone Study, see Morgan, Kundi, Carlberg, “Re-evaluation of the Interphone Study: Application of a Correction Factor,” Bioelectromagnetics (June 2010). See also https://vimeo.com/17265162. On how the wireless industry controls the regulatory agencies, see Norm Alster’s report for the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, “Captured Agency: How the Federal Communications Commission is Dominated by the Industries it Presumably Regulates” (June 23, 2015). Also informative on the wireless industry’s corruption of the science is Devra Davis, Disconnect: The Truth about Cell Phone Radiation (2010).

7 On declining water consumption in Silver City, see Town of Silver City Water Conservation Plan (August 12, 2013), 11-12.

On February 26, 2016, PNM applied to the Public Regulation Commission to
install “smart” (wireless) electric meters throughout its service area.
The service area includes the greater Santa Fe/Albuquerque area, Las
Vegas, Clayton, Ruidoso, Tularosa, Alamogordo, Silver City, Lordsburg
and Deming. There will be a public hearing (date to be announced later).
There will also be an opportunity for the public to submit written
comments. There will also be an opportunity for any person to intervene
and become a party to the proceedings, with the right to go to court if
dissatisfied with the PRC’s decision.

Until now, Santa Fe has been fortunate. Electric utilities in other
parts of the U.S. have been installing smart meters for about a decade.
In Santa Fe we presently only have “smart” water and gas meters. They
emit pulses of radio frequency (RF) radiation, however most people’s
water meters are at some distance from their house, and those who do not
want smart gas meters have had the right to opt out at no charge.
“Smart” electric meters are much more intrusive and dangerous, and are
the subject of the vast majority of health complaints and lawsuits that
have been filed in the U.S. and around the world. The stories are
legion. You can read hundreds of them here:http://emfsafetynetwork.org/smart-meters/smart-meter-health-complaints.
Most people who have become seriously ill from a smart meter were users
of cell phones and wireless computers who were never (to their
knowledge) previously affected by electromagnetic radiation.

Here are some of the details of PNM’s plan:

PNM plans to begin installing smart meters throughout its service area
in July 2017, with all meters to be changed out by the end of 2019.

PNM does plan to offer an opt-out to those who do not want a smart meter
on their home. However, those who opt out will be charged a one-time
initial fee of $35, and then $47 per month to have their meter read
manually. Those who agree to receive a smart meter will have to pay an
additional fee of $60 if they then get sick and want to have the smart
meter removed.

Unlike “smart” gas and water meters, which only have a single
RF-emitting antenna on the meter itself, “smart” electric meters are
part of an entire “smart” electric grid. PNM has applied to install a
mesh network and a huge city-wide network of pole-mounted antennas in
the streets. In a wireless mesh network the antennas all communicate
back and forth with one another wirelessly. The smart meter on your
house will relay signals from smart meters on other people’s houses.
Some houses will have “collector” meters which will collect data from
hundreds of other houses and transmit the collected data to the antenna
on the nearest utility pole in the street. The pole-mounted antennas
will re-transmit all the data to AT&T and Verizon cell towers which will
send it all back to PNM. If you have any newer electric appliances in
your house, such as air conditioners, refrigerators and washing
machines, they are all being manufactured with chips in them, and those
chips will collect data on your electricity use and will communicate
that data to your smart meter, which will transmit that data via other
smart meters, pole-mounted antennas and cell towers back to PNM. This
all happens continuously, day and night, and never stops. Collector
smart meters often emit pulses of radiation eighty or ninety thousand
times a day. This entirely new grid will engulf the city in a cloud of
radiation, so that even if you opt out and don’t have a smart meter on
your own house, you cannot escape it. Shielding your house will not
work: the tens of thousands of smart meters become part of the electric
grid and their continuous pulsations enter your house on your electric
wires, which act as antennas and irradiate you from within your house.

Installation of the “smart” grid in its service area is going to cost
PNM about $200,000,000, so as part of its application PNM is applying to
the PRC for permission to pass this cost on to consumers in the way of
rate increases. If the PRC denies the rate increases, PNM states that it
will not install smart meters. However, by its previous actions the PRC
has already indicated that it is inclined to approve PNM’s application:
on January 20, 2016, the PRC granted PNM permission to suspend testing
and replacement of existing meters because it was going to apply for
permission to install smart meters.

PNM expects 2,655 customers to opt out of the smart meters. The
application states that the project “could become uneconomical overall,
if the number of customers that opt out is very substantial.”

This is not a done deal, but we have an uphill battle ahead of us. I
will keep you posted.